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By:
Stephen Williams
GREENWOOD, S.C. – In a battle of Peach Belt Conference division leaders, the 24
th-ranked Columbus State University women's basketball team came out on top with an 82-76 win at Lander. Saturday's matchup was played inside Horne Arena.
Alexis Carter was 10-of-15 from the floor and led all scorers with 22 points to go with nine rebounds.
Ashley Asouzu put up a season-best 20 points and grabbed seven boards, six on the offensive end.
Britteny Tatum and
Gabby Williams also were in double figures going for 15 and 14 points, respectively.
The victory snapped a 13-game home winning streak for Lander that started nearly one year ago to the day.
"We knew Lander was going to be aggressive and battle, but we kept fighting," head coach
Anita Howard said. "We were able to put some stops together at the end and get the win.
"You have to beat good teams on the road if you want to be great, and today was a really good win for us."
It was a bit of an ominous start for Columbus State (12-1, 6-1 PBC) on Saturday. After scoring the first four points, Lander went on a 19-2 run over the next five minutes and left CSU staring at its largest deficit of the season.
The Lady Cougars would slowly work their way back into the game though, scoring nine of the next 11 points to trail just 21-15 after the first quarter.
CSU's run continued into the second quarter with four straight points to bring the Lady Cougars within two, and
Tatiana Wayne's jumper at the four-minute mark tied the game at 28. After a Lander basket, Tatum buried a three from the left wing to give Columbus State its first lead since the opening minutes.
The game went to halftime even at 36, but Lander (10-4, 4-2) had another big run in it to start the third.
Following an exchange of baskets, the Bearcats put together a 12-3 spurt that moved the LU lead back to nine at 50-41.
The Lady Cougars punched back again however, swinging the momentum back in their favor behind a 16-2 stretch. Asouzu, Carter and Williams combined for all 16 points during the run and CSU took a 57-54 lead into the final quarter.
Up by three, Columbus State finally pushed its lead out to double figures for the first time on the day after three straight points from Asouzu made it a 68-58 game.
The Lady Cougars seemed to be comfortably ahead leading 77-67 with 1:39 to play. However, Lander had one last answer in it. The Bearcats rallied all the way back to 79-76 with 34 ticks left on the clock.
Williams went to the line and split the pair to make it a two-possession game again. LU then missed a three-point attempt and Tatum iced the game with a pair of free throws.
CSU had a good day from the field, going 30-for-65 (46.2 percent) overall. The Lady Cougars were 63.6 percent (21-for-33) from the free throw line. CSU also owned the glass with a 48-32 advantage.
Lander was 28-for-64 (43.8 percent) on the day and just 4-of-16 (25 percent) from the three-point line.
Columbus State will wrap up its three-game road swing with a trip to Francis Marion on Monday. Tipoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in Florence, S.C.
